AFP, BARCELONA
Pope Leo XIV on Wednesday blessed a giant new tower at Barcelona’s famed Sagrada Familia Basilica after celebrating mass inside what is now the world’s tallest church. A fireworks and light show illuminated the exterior of the temple at the end of the ceremony, bathing the unfinished basilica in shifting colours that highlighted its towering spires. A choir of 600 singers performed at the service which lasted around 90 minutes and was attended by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez as well as King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia.
Fireworks go off after the inauguration of the Tower of Jesus Christ by Pope Leo XIV at the Basilica of the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, Spain, Wednesday, June 10, 2026.
The stained-glass windows in various colours shone brightly in between the tree-like columns of the basilica as Leo delivered his homily in Spanish, Catalan and Latin. “We cannot believe in Jesus and promote war. We cannot believe in Jesus and kill the innocent,” the pope said in a thinly veiled reference to US President Donald Trump’s administration.
At the end of the service, the US-born pontiff blessed the Sagrada Familia’s soaring central Jesus Christ tower which was completed in February, bringing the basilica to its maximum height of 172.5 metres (566 feet).
